SEMANTI
CS
SEMANTICS
It the study of the meaning of
words, phrases and sentences. In
semantic analysis, the attempt is to
focus on what the words
conventionally mean. (Yule, 2006)
SEMANTICS
What is meaning?
Semantic Features
Semantic Roles
Lexical Relations
WHAT IS MEANING?
meaning refers to the way language conveys
information, ideas, emotions, and
relationships.
Yule (2006) categorized meaning into:
conceptual meaning and associative
meaning
WHAT IS MEANING?
CONCEPTUAL MEANING
refers to the literal, dictionary definition of
a word
concerned with the core, essential meaning
of a word, independent of personal or cultural
associations.
Ex. needle
"thin, sharp, steel instrument"
WHAT IS MEANING?
ASSOCIATIVE MEANING
refers to additional meanings that a word
carries beyond its conceptual meaning. It is
influenced by emotions, experiences, and
cultural factors.
Ex. needle
"pain," "illness," "blood," "drugs," "thread,"
"knitting," or "hard to find."
WHAT IS MEANING?
CONCEPTUAL ASSOCIATIVE
MEANING MEANING
fixed and universal subjective and
influenced by
Ex. Low-calorieexperience
"producing a small may evoke "healthy"
amount of energy"
SEMANTIC FEATURES
Semantic features are components of
concepts associated with lexical items or
grammatical units.
essential for analyzing and describing the
meaning and relationships between words in a
language.
SEMANTIC FEATURES
It is usually plus (+) or minus
(−) sign and it indicates the presence or
absence of that property
SEMANTIC FEATURES
SEMANTIC FEATURES
Ex. The hamburger ate the boy.
This sentence is syntactically good,
but semantically odd
SEMANTIC FEATURES
Ex. The hamburger ate the boy.
the subject of the verb “ate” must
denote an entity that is capable of
“eating
SEMANTIC FEATURES
Ex. The hamburger ate the boy.
So, the feature that the noun “boy”
is “+animate” and the feature that the
noun “hamburger” has is
“−animate.”
SEMANTIC FEATURES
They break down word meanings into
smaller elements.
They also help explain why words can or
cannot be substituted for one another.
SEMANTIC FEATURES
The table listens to the radio.
The horse is reading the newspaper.
SEMANTIC FEATURES
The _____ listens to the radio.
The _____ is reading the newspaper.
SEMANTIC ROLES
Semantic roles describe the
relationship between a verb and the
noun phrases in a sentence.
They capture who is doing what to
whom in an event.
COMMON SEMANTIC ROLES
Agent Location
Patient (Theme) Source
Experiencer Goal
Instrument
[Link] – The doer of an action.
John kicked the ball. (John = Agent)
2. Patient (Theme) – The entity affected by
an action or receiver of the action.
John kicked the ball. (The ball = Patient)
3. Experiencer – A being that feels or
perceives something.
Mary loves chocolate. (Mary = Experiencer)
4. Instrument – The means by which an
action is performed.
He cut the paper with scissors.
(Scissors = Instrument)
5. Location – The place where an action
happens.
She is in the kitchen. (The kitchen =
Location)
6. Source – The starting point of movement.
She traveled from New York.
(New York = Source)
7. Goal – The endpoint of movement.
He sent a letter to his friend. (His friend =
Goal)
Dr. Smith diagnosed the patient with a
stethoscope in the hospital after receiving
test results from the lab and prescribed
medicine to the patient.
Source Location Goal
Patient Instrument Agent
(Theme)
Dr. Smith diagnosed the patient with a
stethoscope in the hospital after
receiving test results from the lab and
prescribed medicine to the patient.
Source Location Goal
Patient Instrument Agent
(Theme)
LEXICAL RELATIONS
the ways in which words are related to each
other in terms of meaning. These relationships
help in understanding the structure of a
language and how words interact.
Synonym Hyponym Homographs
Antonym Homophones Polysemy
LEXICAL RELATIONS
SYNONYM ANTONYM
have same or nearly have opposite meanings.
the same meaning.
almost/nearly,
big/large, broad/wide, alive/dead, big/small,
buy/purchase fast/slow, happy/sad
LEXICAL RELATIONS
HYPONYM HOMOPHONES
a specific type of a same sound, different
broader category meaning/spelling
animal/dog, bare/bear, meat/meet,
dog/poodle, vegetable/ pail/pale, right/write
carrot, flower/rose
LEXICAL RELATIONS
HOMOGRAPHS Polysemy
same spelling, different the same spelling and
meaning, sometimes multiple related
different pronunciation meanings
"Bank“
pupil (at school / in the A financial institution
eye, race (contest of The side of a river
speed / ethnic group) A set of resources
(involve storage/holding)